- France: They fell in love, then had to check they weren’t brother and sister
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“For years, Arthur Kermalvezen, the child of a sperm donor, saw possible fathers everywhere he went. ‘I imagined it might be my teacher, the people I saw on the bus… and I was very angry because it’s impossible to live like this’. When, as an adult, he fell in love with Audrey, another sperm donor baby from Paris, the question became even more pressing. Audrey describes the moment they met at a gathering for donor conceived activists in 2010 as ‘love at first sight’ – but was this connection a romantic or genetic attraction? When they were born, there were only two sperm banks in Paris and many men had made multiple donations – so there was a real possibility they could be half-siblings. Before building a life together, Arthur and Audrey needed to know whether they were related. But in France, laws governing genetic testing and donor anonymity made finding the answer extremely difficult.” (08/30/26)
- US appeals court rules against prediction markets, sets up likely fight at SCOTUS
Source: CNBC
“The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected prediction market platforms’ requests for injunctive relief against the Nevada Gaming Control Board, concluding that sports-related event contracts are not a derivative regulated by the federal government. The court rejected appeals by Kalshi and Crypto.com, two prediction market platforms, to stop Nevada from halting their operations which the state claims are gambling offerings outside of the gaming control board’s framework. The court also ruled against Robinhood’s request for injunctive relief. That firm also features event contracts on its trading platform. Under scrutiny were the platforms’ sports-related event contract offerings, which 44 states argue are nothing more than sports betting. However, the platforms — and their federal regulator, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission — claim all event contracts, no matter the topic, are swaps.” (08/28/26)
- Nepal warns of possible fresh flooding as communities grapple with devastation
Source: SFGate
“Authorities in Nepal warned of possible fresh flooding on Sunday and urged residents in flood-affected districts to remain on high alert after water levels rose in the Bhotekoshi River. Flood warning notices were sent to people’s phones early Sunday as rescue crews worked to clear a major highway connecting Kathmandu to one of the areas worst hit by Wednesday’s catastrophic floods, which killed at least 800 people and left more than 3,000 missing in Nepal and Tibet. The latest warnings came after Chinese authorities informed their Nepalese counterparts of increased water flow upstream, according to Dharam Raj Uprety, chief executive of Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority. The Chinese state news agency Xinhua, citing the country’s water resources ministry, said a new lake formed after Wednesday’s floods high in the mountains had largely drained. But Xinhua said the ministry warned that a crater located 5.6 kilometers (3.5 miles) upstream, which held an estimated 1.4 million cubic meters of water, still posed some risk and required close monitoring.” (08/30/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/nepal-warns-of-more-possible-floods-as-22409615.php
- Haiti: Hundreds attend funeral for 4 victims of brutal gang attack that killed 47
Source: SFGate
“Hundreds of people crowded into a church near Haiti’s capital on Sunday for the funeral of four of the 47 people killed in a recent gang attack so brutal that it shook a country that has long struggled with violence. Mourners wiped away tears, raised their hands and cried out as coffins arrived at a church in the farming community of Kenscoff. ‘We thank everyone who came in solidarity with the families that died and those who lost their loved ones,’ Pastor Jean Robert Dorlus said. ‘God will open a space to receive them.’ Inside the church, people swayed to gospel music. Some wailed as their shoulders shook. The church was so packed that dozens had to stand outside, peering through the windows, as they honored those being laid to rest: a mother, father and their son, and a 70-year-old man whose body had been set on fire by the gang members.” (08/30/26)
- Kenya: Police attack tariff protesters with chemical weapons
Source: US News & World Report
“Police fired tear gas to disperse small-scale traders protesting against an import duty hike, a Reuters witness saw on Friday, while hundreds of businesses closed in central Nairobi. The Kenya Revenue Authority said its decision to raise the duty with effect from August 20 aimed to curb under-declaration and undervaluation of imports, which it said disadvantages compliant businesses and local manufacturers. Traders say the change would raise the cost of clearing goods and hurt small businesses that rely on consolidated shipments to reduce import costs.” (08/28/26)
- Canada installs large Lake Ontario sign in latest jab at US
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“Ontario Premier Doug Ford has hit back at Donald Trump by installing a large sign on Canada’s shoreline with the message: ‘Lake Ontario. Now and Always’. The US president signed an executive order on Thursday seeking to change its name to Lake America and has shared a series of AI-generated videos about the lake that straddles both countries. ‘Long before President Trump, this lake was called Lake Ontario. Long after President Trump is gone, it will still be called Lake Ontario,’ Ford said. The war of words was triggered after trade talks collapsed, with the US imposing new 50% tariffs on $20bn (C$28bn) of Canadian goods. Canada will implement ‘dollar for dollar’ counter-tariffs next month. Trump said the decree was effective immediately as he signed the order to rename it Lake America.” (08/30/26)
- Trump can’t appeal New York conviction in federal court, judge rules again
Source: The Hill
“A federal judge on Friday rejected President Trump’s latest bid to fight his criminal conviction outside of New York’s state courts, a strategy aimed at citing presidential immunity, under which Trump could potentially toss charges that stem from a 2016 hush money payment in the trash can. U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein has denied Trump’s attempts to move to federal court three times. An appeals panel had directed Hellerstein to take another look, saying he brushed aside the president’s arguments too easily. Hellerstein on Friday reaffirmed that Trump was too late and that the verdict withstands presidential immunity anyway.” (08/28/26)
- Happy Face Killer’s eighth victim identified
Source: SFGate
“Two years after a major break in the case, the last known victim of serial killer Keith Jesperson has been identified. Jesperson, who got the moniker the ‘Happy Face Killer’ after sending letters to the media with smiley faces, killed at least eight women across the nation. As a long-haul trucker, Jesperson had easy access to victims who were less likely to draw the attention of authorities: hitchhikers and sex workers. He also could dump their bodies in random locations, obscuring his involvement in their murders. It’s believed he began killing in 1990. He had multiple victims in California, including Patricia Skiple in Santa Nella, Cynthia Rose in Turlock and a woman he believed was named ‘Claudia’. ‘Claudia’ was found along Highway 95 on Aug. 30, 1992.” (08/30/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/happy-face-killer-victim-identified-22409916.php
- Ecuador: Court sentences ex-president Moreno to five years in jail in bribery case
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“An Ecuadorian court has found former President Lenin Moreno guilty of bribery in a case tied to the construction of the country’s largest hydroelectric plant, the public prosecutor’s office said on Friday. Moreno, 73, was sentenced to five years in prison and has been permanently barred from holding any public office in the future. The attorney general’s office launched an investigation in March 2023, linking Moreno, his family members, and local and Chinese business partners to an alleged corruption network connected to the Coca Codo Sinclair plant.” (08/28/26)
- Judge again blocks Trump’s mail ballot election-rigging scheme
Source: Associated Press
“A federal judge on Thursday halted — at least for now — attempts to implement President Donald Trump’s executive order limiting mail voting. The move stalled the directive for a second time only about a week before the first mail ballots are due to be sent out for the rapidly approaching midterm elections. U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani blocked the government from implementing the order for two weeks. The case could soon be appealed back to the Supreme Court, days after the justices handed down a procedural decision that allowed the the administration to move ahead. … The high court’s conservative majority did not rule on the legality of Trump’s executive order, instead saying Talwani had acted too soon. Now the administration has issued a formal rule governing whether the U.S. Postal Service will deliver states’ mail ballots, effectively restarting the legal fight.” (08/27/26)
- Harald V, 1937-2026
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“Norway’s King Harald V has died at the age of 89, after he was taken to hospital last week for treatment for a rare blood condition. The palace in Oslo said he passed away peacefully at 06:35 local time (04:35GMT) on Friday at the national hospital in Oslo. The royal flag on the roof of the palace has been lowered to half-mast. In the 24 hours leading up to his death, members of the royal family had visited the king, and crowds had laid flowers at the palace. Harald was Norway’s first king born in Norway since the 14th Century. He has been succeeded by his son Haakon, 53, who will hold an extraordinary council of state with the government later on Friday.” (08/28/26)
- Russia: Regime spokesperson threatens strikes on UK military targets
Source: Reuters
“Russia warned on Thursday that it could strike British military targets inside and outside Ukraine in response to Ukrainian attacks on targets inside Russia using long-range British cruise missiles. The warning, delivered by Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova at a news briefing in Moscow, has been made before but without such rhetorical force or urgency. … ‘We have repeatedly warned that any British military installations and equipment in Ukraine and beyond its borders could be targeted in response to Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory carried out using British weapons,’ Zakharova said. … Western analysts said the strength of Moscow’s warning reflected Russian fury over Britain’s decision — made public on Monday — to allow Kyiv access to classified technology to start its own production of Storm Shadow cruise missiles, capable of carrying out strikes deep within Russia.” (08/27/26)
- FL: Grand jury finds DeSantis regime “misappropriated” $10 million from Medicaid settlement
Source: The Guardian [UK]
“A Florida grand jury has found that the administration of the governor, Ron DeSantis, ‘misappropriated’ $10m in taxpayer money from a Medicaid settlement into the Hope Florida Foundation, a charity with ties to DeSantis’s wife, before the money was reportedly ‘funneled’ into ‘two political action committees’. In the grand jury report, which remains sealed but was obtained and published by CBS News Miami on Wednesday, the grand jurors wrote that ‘we conclude that these funds were misappropriated as part of a sophisticated scheme to fund political activities’ but said that they found ‘insufficient evidence to charge anyone criminally’. … The grand jurors wrote that no witness admitted or identified who directed the money to go to Hope Florida and noted that testimony also revealed that [attorney general James] Uthmeier’s political action committee, Keep Florida Clean, was the ‘prime recipient of the majority’ of the $10m.” (08/27/26)
- Anthropic was illegally blacklisted by the Trump regime, court rules
Source: The Verge
“On Thursday, a judge ruled that the Pentagon’s blacklisting of Anthropic earlier this year was unconstitutional, delivering the AI lab a win in a monthslong rollercoaster of a battle with the Trump administration. The lawsuit, filed in March in a California district court, accused the Trump administration of unlawfully retaliating against Anthropic for setting ‘red lines,’ or unacceptable military use cases of its AI technology. ‘The empty invocation of national security is not a blank check to punish and retaliate against government critics,’ Judge Rita F. Lin, a district judge in the northern district of California, wrote in the ruling.” (08/27/26)
- Amazon to close Mechanical Turk amid rise of AI
Source: Seattle Times
“Amazon announced it will shutter its 21-year-old crowdsourced labor market platform, Mechanical Turk, by the end of September. Some say the rising usage of artificial intelligence delivered the fatal blow. The company launched Mechanical Turk, which users commonly call MTurk, in 2005 to pay gig workers to complete simple digital tasks that were easy for humans but challenging for computers. People looking for side jobs could transcribe audio, categorize data or label images for a few cents per task. Amazon co-founder Jeff Bezos described the platform as ‘artificial artificial intelligence.’ But AI has become more capable of such mundane tasks in recent years. A 2023 study by researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne found that between 33% and 46% of workers on Amazon Mechanical Turk used large language models like ChatGPT to complete some of those tasks.” (08/27/26)
- US FDA approves daily HIV pill from Gilead designed to simplify treatment for some patients
Source: CNBC
“The Food and Drug Administration approved a once-daily HIV pill from Gilead that could help simplify care for some patients, the company announced Thursday. The drug, marketed as Bixlenvo, is aimed at patients whose virus is already under control but who remain on complicated treatment regimens. It could also appeal to those who simply want to switch to a new treatment alternative.”(08/27/26)
- Ratko Mladic, Murderous “Butcher of Bosnia,” Dies at 83
Source: New York Times
“Ratko Mladic, the former Bosnian Serb general whose actions during the Balkan wars of the 1990s led to him being called the ‘Butcher of Bosnia’ and who was held responsible for Europe’s deadliest massacre since World War II, the killing of some 8,000 Muslim men and boys at Srebrenica in 1995, has died. He was 83. His death was announced on Thursday by Serbian state media. Mr. Mladic was captured on May 26, 2011, in a farming village north of Belgrade, Serbia’s capital, after almost 16 years as a fugitive, ending one of the longest manhunts in modern history. His 2017 conviction by an international tribunal on charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes marked the end of a dark and bloody chapter.” (08/27/26)
- TX: Wanted gangland fugitive released from jail instead of extradited
Source: KSTP 5 News
“An ICE [gang member] charged in connection with a shooting that wounded a Venezuelan man in Minneapolis has been released from a jail in Texas. A Texas federal judge denied Minnesota’s request on Wednesday to compel the extradition of Christian Castro. Thursday’s release from the jail in Brownsville, Texas, came as the 90-day clock on Castro’s detention expired …. Castro is accused of shooting at Julio Sosa-Celis through the door of a north Minneapolis home on Jan. 14 in the course of his duties as a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement [gang member] during Operation Metro Surge. He had initially told FBI investigators that Sosa-Celis and others had attacked him, using a snow shovel and a broom handle as weapons. Video evidence of the shooting contradicted his sworn statement, and Castro was placed on leave as the U.S. Department of Justice investigated whether he lied under oath.” (08/27/26)
- Canada: Saskatchewan premier announces 50% tariff on American liquor
Source: Ground News
“Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe announced Tuesday that the province will impose a 50 per cent reciprocal fee on American alcohol products starting Sept. 8, responding to escalating trade tensions. The decision follows the United States recently implementing a 50 per cent tariff on a range of Canadian alcohol products, forcing provinces to pursue retaliatory measures protecting local industries. Federal authorities also introduced retaliatory levies on $27.6 billion worth of imports from the U.S., aiming to support the national economy amid the ongoing trade dispute. Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew praised Canada’s counter-tariffs on Tuesday, stating, ‘I’m proud of our country right now,’ while urging citizens to support local businesses through the ‘Buy Canadian’ initiative.” (08/27/26)
https://ground.news/article/saskatchewan-premier-announces-50-tariff-on-american-liquor
- Tanzania: Resigning Vice President Expelled From Governing Party
Source: US News & World Report
“Tanzania’s governing party expelled the vice president who resigned this week, in an act of retaliation that will further test the credentials of the East African nation as a place of relative peace and stability. A meeting of the Chama cha Mapinduzi, or CCM, party decided to punish Emmanuel Nchimbi for indiscipline, and it nominated Energy Minister Deogratius Ndejembi to become President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s deputy, CCM Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro told reporters late Wednesday. The maneuver is believed to be part of the ongoing fallout from Hassan’s contentious election in October, when the security forces were deployed to put down riots over the disqualification of the president’s main rivals. The internet was shut down for days, a move that Hassan later apologized for and promised would never happen again. Hassan’s main rival, Tundu Lissu, is jailed over treason charges he says are politically motivated.” (08/27/26)
- Canada Should Ignore Trump’s Protectionism and Unilaterally Enact Free Trade
Source: Reason
by JD Tuccille“Towards the beginning of the 1974 movie Blazing Saddles, Sheriff Bart, confronted by hostile but not especially bright townspeople, takes himself hostage to make his escape. It’s hilarious precisely because it makes no sense. Just as nuts but less funny is the recent confrontation between United States President Donald Trump and Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney in which the Canadian matched the American’s protectionist threats by vowing to force his own people to pay high tariffs on goods imported from the U.S. It’s silver-screen-quality idiocy, but it’s not very entertaining if you understand the advantages of free trade and the pointlessness of holding your own side hostage.” (08/28/26)
- Envisioning a Pro-Animal Foreign Policy
Source: Common Dreams
by Jon Hochschartner“Some years back, I was toying with the idea of writing a book-length history of World War II from the perspective of wild and domesticated animals. I bought a number of relevant texts for research, like The Long Shadows: A Global Environmental History of the Second World War, edited by Simo Laakkonen, Richard P. Tucker, and Timo Vuorisalo. Ultimately, the project was more ambitious than what I was capable of, so I set it aside. Still, I remained interested in the question which, at least partially, inspired my focus on the topic—namely, what would a pro-animal foreign policy, that we could plausibly get politicians to adopt, look like? Recently, I sought to ask various animal activists and thinkers that question. I had hoped to feature a broader range of figures. Nevertheless, I’m very grateful to all of the people who took the time to answer.” (08/30/26)
- Elites Need Some Emotional Distance from Social Media
Source: Liberal Currents
by Adam Gurri“[N]early everyone is online now, to some degree. And to be online means that you have, at your disposal, the equivalent of both a printing press and international distribution syndicate at your fingertips. Like the old press, having those things does not guarantee you an audience; and indeed, precisely because these things are available to everyone, the competition for audiences is more fierce than it has ever been. Your odds of casually taking an audience for yourself are quite low. Individual odds aside, in aggregate this does mean that new ‘presses’ are popping up all the time. And given such presses begin their existence as the product of amateurs, they lack the kinds of norms and ethics that might constrain a buttoned up, professionalized operation.” (08/28/26)
https://www.liberalcurrents.com/elites-need-some-emotional-distance-from-social-media/
- America’s Drug Shortage Is a National Security Crisis
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Joseph Varon“We practice medicine in a country capable of replacing heart valves through catheters, sequencing a human genome, performing robotic surgery, supporting failing lungs with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, and developing entirely new classes of medications within a few years. Yet I can walk into an American intensive care unit caring for critically ill patients and discover that a basic medicine or fluid I have used for decades is unavailable. … Americans usually think about national security in terms of aircraft carriers, missiles, energy supplies, semiconductor factories, telecommunications infrastructure, and strategic minerals. Medicines belong on that list. A country that cannot reliably supply its population with antibiotics, anesthetics, vasopressors, chemotherapy agents, sterile injectables, IV solutions, and other essential medications has a strategic vulnerability whether policymakers acknowledge it or not.” (08/28/26)
https://brownstone.org/articles/americas-drug-shortage-is-a-national-security-crisis/
- The National Security Externality Can’t Justify Recent Tariffs
Source: Liberalism.org
by Adam A Millsap“It is true that trade can create strategic vulnerabilities. Even if Chinese companies could make guns, ammunition, tanks, and fighter jets cheaper than every U.S. company, it would be a mistake to import our military equipment from a potential adversary that could cut off our supply of weapons. A similar, though weaker, argument can be made for things like steel, rare earths, magnets, certain pharmaceutical ingredients, or computer chips. The existence of these vulnerabilities, however, does not tell us anything about how to address them.” (08/28/26)
https://www.liberalism.org/p/the-national-security-externality-can-t-justify-recent-tariffs
- Put Money on It? The Social Value of Prediction Markets
Source: The Daily Economy
by Joakim Book“Prediction markets reveal which beliefs people are actually willing to risk money on — and generate valuable information in the process.” (08/28/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/put-money-on-it-the-social-value-of-prediction-markets/
- Opposing Democrats a Literal Matter of Life and Death
Source: Town Hall
by Derek Hunter“Every election season (and election seasons are getting longer and longer), we hear from Democrats about just how wonderful Medicare, the health insurance program for the elderly and disabled, is. It’s so amazing that they want to destroy everything that currently exists and replace it with this entitlement for everyone. To the average person, especially a leftist trained to look to government to take care of them, this sounds great – who doesn’t love Medicare? Well, me, for one, and a lot of people who know how it actually works. As you watch Democrats across the country campaign on this issue, maybe try to ask them about just a few of the obvious problems with Medicare they don’t want you to think about. In this discussion, you have to put aside the cost.” (08/30/26)
- Trump Must Not Let Washington’s Korea Hawks Intimidate Him Again
Source: Antiwar.com
by Ted Galen Carpenter“One of the great foreign policy disappointments of Donald Trump’s first term was the failure to advance his initial promising initiative to begin normalizing relations with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). Trump had abandoned the threats and bluster toward Pyongyang that marked his early months in office. Instead, he moved to open a personal dialogue with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un and facilitate productive negotiations on several important issues. … Unfortunately, Trump failed to prevent hawks from both parties in Congress and in the overall national security establishment from sabotaging such conciliatory efforts. … Despite that bruising political experience during his first term, Trump has indicated that he would be receptive to a new dialogue with the North Korean leader before the end of 2026.” (08/28/26)
- A Renamed Lake
Source: The Erick Erickson Show
by Erick-Woods Erickson“The word ‘Ontario’ is Iroquoian. English settlers put ‘Ontario’ on their maps in the early 1600s, borrowing it from the Indians already here, and it meant roughly ‘great lake.’ The water named everything else. The colony took the name from the lake, the province took it from the colony, and the Dominion of Canada did not exist until 1867, two years after Appomattox. That name predates Canada, predates the United States, and predates every man who has ever held the presidency. Yesterday, the President signed an executive order renaming it Lake America. Now picture the American voter who was on the sidelines Tuesday, arms folded, undecided about the midterms, who read that headline and thought, ‘Well, now I’m voting Republican.’ Take your time. I’ll wait.” (08/28/26)
- Dolly Parton’s American Life
Source: Law & Liberty
by Titus Techera“Dolly understood that human nature includes not just sweetness, but much envy and resentment besides, aimed especially, of course, at the beautiful, the wealthy, and so on among us. But her obvious love of people and loyalty to her roots, her tireless work raising money and creating jobs, in short becoming such an astonishing benefactor — that overwhelmed any resentment and made people love her even more for it. That’s a remarkable American life.” (08/28/26)
- The Battle Over Mail-In Ballots
Source: The American Prospect
by Robert Kuttner“In the latest twist in the saga of President Trump’s efforts to get the U.S. Postal Service to restrict or condition mail-in voting, a federal judge once again has enjoined the Postal Service from moving ahead with its plan. District Court Judge Indira Talwani’s order yesterday came after the Supreme Court had admonished her on Monday, overturning her earlier injunction on the grounds that the Postal Service had not finalized any changes; thus the suit and injunction were supposedly premature. But as Judge Talwani wrote in her latest order, the Postal Service had actually gone ahead and issued a final rule providing that unless a state provides voter information to the USPS and meets other arbitrary conditions, the Postal Service will not deliver mail-in ballots.” (08/28/26)
https://prospect.org/2026/08/28/battle-over-mail-ballots-trump-supreme-court/
- Herbert Spencer on the Merits of Industrialism
Source: Free Association
by Sheldon Richman“Between 1876 and 1896, the individualist, pro-capitalist Victorian polymath and evolutionary sociologist, Herbert Spencer (1820-1903), published his massive three-volume The Principles of Sociology. Part five he titled ‘Political Institutions.’ In it he described mankind’s move from what he called the primitive ‘militant type of society’ to the modern ‘industrial type of society.’ His narrative is detailed and fascinating. Spencer’s general point was that the obsolete militant type was characterized by force, slavery, regimentation, and centralized power. In contrast, the beneficent industrial type was grounded in individuality, freedom, contract, interdependence, and decentralized power.” (08/28/26)
https://sheldonrichman.substack.com/p/tgif-spencer-on-the-industrial-society
- The Trade Declaration Carney Should Make
Source: Independent Institute
by Pierre Lemieux“The trade war between the United States and Canada—or, more exactly, between Donald Trump, who declared it, and Canadian politicians, who try to limit the damage though using the same logic as Trump’s—provides a good opportunity to reflect on how trade and freedom work. It is not a brilliant idea for the Canadian government to impose a tariff on Canadians who purchase American appliances, for example, in order to retaliate against the American ruler who has imposed a tariff on Americans importing Canadian whisky. … Instead of retaliation—imposing a border tax on Canadians because Trump has imposed one on Americans—[prime minister Mark Carney] could make a declaration of unilateral free trade along the following lines …” (08/27/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/08/27/the-trade-declaration-carney-should-make/
- How to Stop Chinese, Russian Support for Iran’s War Efforts
Source: The American Conservative
by Doug Bandow“For the Trump administration to complain about foreign interference in America’s war of choice is manifestly absurd. No country interferes in the affairs of other nations more often. No government is more presumptuous in its demands. No nation more frequently uses force against other states. Russian and Chinese intervention in the Iran war is unfortunate—Americans likely have died and certainly have been injured as a result. Yet the administration shares responsibility for the resulting harm. … American policymakers long have viewed themselves as virtuous vestal virgins, entitled, even required, to purify the terrible world around them. Alas, no one else views the solons of Washington in such terms, and for good reason: They have repeatedly failed, often disastrously.” (08/27/26)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/how-to-stop-chinese-russian-support-for-irans-war-efforts/
- Mamdani socialism and Trump socialism — reject them both
Source: The Hill
by Benjamin Powell“New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced this summer that he will open city-owned grocery stores in the coming years. Meanwhile, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick recently announced that the federal government will take a nearly $1 billion equity stake in seven semiconductor companies. There is a common name for these policies: creeping socialism. … President Trump’s criticism of Mamdani is consistent with his pledge in his 2019 State of the Union address that ‘America will never be a socialist country.’ But his own administration’s actions are even less consistent with that pledge than Mamdani’s grocery stores.” (08/27/26)
https://thehill.com/opinion/finance/6051425-rejecting-left-right-socialism/
- Gilded or Golden?
Source: Law & Liberty
by John O McGinnis“The Gilded Age was convicted by its name before its history was ever written. Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner coined that appellation in their political satire by the same name. Their point was clear—the American era of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century was the opposite of a golden age. Instead, it was a time when a thin layer of glitter concealed corruption, useless speculation, and harmful self-interest. The name stuck, permitting Twain’s summary judgment to masquerade as neutral historical judgment. … It is a relief then to have Julian Fellowes’s series, The Gilded Age …. [it] shows that the era produced many public benefits and that the rich were substantially responsible for the dynamism that led not only to economic prosperity but also to broader social inclusion, even if they were hardly always innocent or admirable.” (08/27/26)
- In the US-Canada Trade Spat, Tariffs Are Not the Only Problem
Source: Cato Institute
by Scott Lincicome“After US-Canada trade talks collapsed Friday, the United States imposed a 50% tariff on a long list of Canadian goods via the never-used Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930. US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer went on TV first thing Monday in an attempt to calm financial markets with some basic tariff math. He said the new action hits a small percentage of Canadian imports into the US and an even smaller share of consumption, so there’s ‘no possible way it can really affect US well-being.’Greer is basically right on the issue of the tariffs’ direct effects. The problem for both America’s chief trade negotiator and the US economy is that the new levies raise other issues that are much more important – and troubling. … First, the spat injects significant new uncertainty into both the trillion-dollar bilateral relationship and the broader global economy.” (08/27/26)
https://www.cato.org/commentary/us-canada-trade-spat-tariffs-are-not-only-problem
- Tech bros must channel the moguls of old to get back in America’s good graces
Source: New York Post
by Glenn Harlan Reynolds“In the face of massive public resistance and anger, tech bros need to start thinking like Andrew Carnegie and the ‘robber barons’ of the Gilded Age — or even like Xi Jinping. The tech world is in bad odor these days. Social media’s addictive qualities have parents in such an uproar that Meta just agreed to pay out an $18 billion settlement, and data-center projects are facing rejection across the country. Yet for decades America’s tech industry was cherished as a center of innovation, a world in which hard-working entrepreneurs started businesses in garages and produced things that made everyone’s lives better. Because it was constantly innovating, it stayed ahead of government’s ability to regulate it, resulting in ‘permissionless innovation’ — change that didn’t have to ask first.” (08/26/26)
- Bill Gates Wants to Tax AI and Reserve Jobs for Humans. History Says That’s a Mistake
Source: Karl Dickey’s Freedom Vanguard
by Karl Dickey“In his 6,000-word essay, Gates proposes three direct state interventions. First, he proposes a payroll-style tax on artificial intelligence and robots to penalize companies that automate labor. Second, he proposes legal mandates that reserve specific job categories for humans only. Third, he advocates for global government coordination to slow down artificial intelligence development. As we see so often, government interventions cause more problems than they propose to solve, often having the opposite effect of their stated goals — so government intervention is a terrible idea to solve problems that have not yet happened. After all, adding a tax on automation will negate the increased profits the automation will bring. His ‘solutions’ will bring higher consumer prices; they would protect inefficient monopolies while reducing productivity. Negating the whole point of AI.” (08/27/26)
https://palmbeachexaminer.substack.com/p/bill-gates-wants-to-tax-ai-and-reserve
- Off-Grid Is Good For Everyone, Not Just the Military
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp“The US Army, Fox Business reports, plans to build nuclear ‘microreactors’ at five of its bases — Fort Bragg, Fort Campbell, Fort Hood, Fort Benning, and Fort Drum — over the next two years, with at least 15 more to follow later. Why? To, the report says, ‘strengthen the military’s energy security and reduce its reliance on potentially vulnerable power grids.’ The idea certainly makes sense for a military base, but it makes sense for everyone, everywhere else, too. The biggest security and reliability worry with electricity isn’t that an enemy missile or bomb will take out a power plant. It’s that an attack or accident somewhere along the 650,000 miles of high-voltage transmission lines and 6.3 million miles of distribution lines criss-crossing the US will stop that power from getting delivered.” (08/27/26)
- Economists can’t explain American misery. Luckily, I can.
Source: Sex and the State
by Cathy Reisenwitz“In Asia Times, Noah Smith just wrote that standard economic measures can’t really explain why Americans are growing less happy with their lives over time. The problem is that what makes for a happy, meaningful life is much harder to measure than GDP or median income. I agree that standard economic measures alone won’t do the trick. But it’s not because it’s so hard to measure what predicts a happy, meaningful life. That’s actually pretty easy. Connecting economic realities to those measures is also fairly straightforward. What Smith is missing is that relationships predict happiness. And, increasingly, economic conditions predict relationships.” (08/27/26)
https://cathyreisenwitz.substack.com/p/bottom-half-families-explain-americas
- Wealth Taxes, Competition, and Long-Term Prosperity
Source: Cato Institute
by Marian L Tupy“Cooperation helps us survive, while innovation helps us prosper. How ‘interjurisdictional competition’ can foster the latter.” (08/27/26)
https://www.cato.org/commentary/wealth-taxes-competition-long-term-prosperity
- Ukraine’s edge in war: Esprit de (military) corps
Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff“News about the wars in Iran and Gaza has lately eclipsed that of a more consequential war: the one in Ukraine, now in its fifth year. Yet that conflict could soon take a turn against the aggressor, Russia – less on the battlefront and more on the homefront. By various reports, young Russians are showing more bravery through subtle opposition to the war, while young men have become less brave about joining the military – actively avoiding coercive new ways of recruiting them to replace the vast number of soldiers lost on the front lines. The contrast with Ukraine could not be more stark.” (08/26/26)
- Recycling’s great but you do have to have something to recycle
Source: Adam Smith Institute
by Tim Worstall“You have to have something to recycle. Which, if you’re building Civilisation 1.0, you don’t. It’s only when you’re building Civ 2.0, or 3.0, when you tear down the previous one and now have a pile of something that can be recycled to build the next version. The currently rich nations – US, UK, say – require very little virgin steel and actually export considerable amounts of scrap steel from those previous versions now being torn down. We’ve not checked the numbers but would certainly be willing to believe that demand for primary copper in both places is pretty minimal given the abundance of secondary. It’s places building out an urban environment for the first time – recently China, likely soon India, say – that require vast amounts of the new stuff.” (08/27/26)
https://www.adamsmith.org/blog/recyclings-great-but-you-do-have-to-have-something-to-recycle
- Sino-American Relations: From Fragile Thaw to Renewed Friction
Source: Libertarian Institute
by Joseph Solis-Mullen“While the tenor of U.S.-China relations cooled somewhat from the hysteria of Donald Trump’s first term and the Joe Biden years, recent events have made clear how thin that veneer of stability remains. President Trump’s May 2026 state visit to Beijing and the planned September 24 White House meeting with Xi Jinping briefly suggested a shift toward ‘strategic stability.’ Reciprocal visits returned to the agenda, and open talk of full decoupling subsided. That moment already looks precarious.” (08/27/26)
- Thank you, Brendan Carr
Source: Checks & Balances
by Bob Corn-Revere“It is widely said that you are nothing but a political hack who sold out your previously professed beliefs about free expression and the rule of law for the short-term goal of being named FCC chairman, that you corrupted the agency’s nonpartisan purpose by focusing its efforts on punishing perceived critics of the Trump administration, and that you regularly prostrate yourself with cringe-worthy displays of servility to soothe the president’s fragile ego. All these things may be true. But the criticism is terribly unfair because it fails to acknowledge your substantive accomplishments. When the dust settles, it may turn out that you have done more than any FCC chairman since the agency’s creation in 1934 to advance full First Amendment protection for the broadcast medium.” (08/27/26)
- Monopoly Money: Why Meta “Likes” the $16 Billion Settlement
Source: Jonathan Turley
by Jonathan Turley“It is not every day that a company can settle a case for over $16 billion and celebrate. However, Meta’s settlement with 29 states is a remarkably good deal for a company facing a demand of over $1.4 trillion and years of litigation. In the end, it may not even take a loss from the litigation. The settlement ends the latest mass liability case, following similar settlements in tobacco, opiates, and other products. It will require Meta to make changes to its platform, though the company already appeared to be moving to make such changes. The maximum payment of closer to $17 billion is tied to whether competing platforms (like TikTok and YouTube) adopt parallel protections for children. Otherwise, the company is on the hook for at least $12.1 billion over 10 years under the agreement.” (08/27/26)
https://jonathanturley.org/2026/08/27/monopoly-money-why-meta-likes-the-16-billion-settlement/
- With Energy Prices Falling, Inflation Has Nowhere to Hide
Source: The Daily Economy
by Bryan Cutsinger“Spending growth is still outstripping productive capacity, and the Fed can no longer blame high prices on volatile energy markets.” (08/27/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/with-energy-prices-falling-inflation-has-nowhere-to-hide/
- Biden Derangement Syndrome
Source: Paul Krugman
by Paul Krugman“A clear indicator that Trump sycophants realize that they are caught in reality’s snare is how they respond to any question about current economic difficulties. Their first sentence almost always contains the word ‘Biden’, as they make the false claim that things were worse under Joe Biden, or that Biden somehow caused all of our current problems (including high gas prices and depleted munitions), or that Biden left an economy in shambles. Call it a bad case of Biden derangement syndrome, a desperate and utterly transparent attempt to shift the blame for the gratuitous mess that Trump and his minions have made.” (08/27/26)
https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/biden-derangement-syndrome
- Game Theory and the Push to Go Along
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Richard Burt“World War II ended when America dropped the atomic bombs named ‘Little Boy’ and ‘Fat Man’ on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Hundreds of thousands of Japanese died in an instant and of radiation poisoning over the subsequent years. Several American politicians, military brass, and university academics advocated for preemptive war against Russia to prevent it from acquiring nuclear bombs. Francis Matthews, Secretary of the Navy, advocated becoming ‘aggressors for peace.’ The mathematician John von Neuman, who was a pioneer in game theory, remarked: ‘If you say bomb them tomorrow, I say why not bomb them today?'” (08/27/26)
https://brownstone.org/articles/game-theory-and-the-push-to-go-along/
- Lebanon Pressured to Disarm Hezbollah While Israel Stays; How Is That Sovereignty?
Source: Common Dreams
by Faheem Kazimi“This week, the argument over Lebanese sovereignty became concrete on a ridge overlooking Nabatieh. The New Arab reported on August 24 that Washington is pressing for the strategic Ali al-Taher ridge, where Hezbollah fighters are present, to be transferred to the Lebanese Army in exchange for Israeli withdrawal. The same area has been subjected to repeated Israeli shelling. In one small patch of southern Lebanon, the larger problem is suddenly hard to hide: Beirut is being asked to move first, while the withdrawal of foreign forces from Lebanese territory remains the inducement offered in return. That pressure did not begin this week. Reuters reported in July 2025 that Washington was pressing Lebanon to make a formal cabinet commitment to disarm Hezbollah before talks could continue on halting Israeli military operations.” (08/27/26)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/israel-lebanon-sovereignty
- What would Dolly do? Trump should learn from her life and legacy
Source: Los Angeles Times
by Jackie Calmes“Both Dolly and Donald are American originals. But to say ‘there will never be another Dolly’ is to do so with regret. To say the same about Trump is, for many Americans, to do so with hope for the country and Constitution. She was a fairy tale version of the American dream, born in a one-room mountain cabin, ever humble and true to her roots yet serenaded after her death by royal troops playing ‘9 to 5’ outside Buckingham Palace. He was born entitled and rich, yet embodies that old American saying ‘born on third base and thinks he hit a home run.’ Safe to say Trump won’t be honored abroad with serenades on his passing, given how fully he has alienated allies. Dolly’s philanthropy was real and global; the Trump Foundation was fraudulent and forced to shut down. She was no dumb blond; about him you’ll get an argument.” (08/27/26)
- He Spent Nearly Six Years in Prison Based on the Word of a Notoriously Dishonest Houston Drug Cop
Source: Reason
by Jacob Sullum“When a crime consists of nothing but handing a police officer or an informant something in exchange for money, the evidence often consists of nothing but that purported buyer’s word, along with drugs that easily could have been obtained through other means. This situation invites dishonest cops to invent drug offenses and take credit for the resulting arrests, as [Gerald] Goines did for years with impunity. When your job is to create crimes by arranging illegal drug sales, it is not such a big leap to create crimes out of whole cloth, especially if you are convinced that your target is a drug dealer.” (08/27/26)
- How a Self-help Book Resolved a Philosophical Conundrum, part 2
Source: The Jolly Libertarian
by Marco den Ouden“Much of the self-help movement is focused on improving self-image. Ayn Rand’s former acolyte Nathaniel Branden developed his whole philosophy of psychology around the idea of self-esteem. And for many years he gave a three day intensive workshop, a group therapy event called Self-Esteem and the Art of Being. I took these Intensives twice, gaining additional insights into my own psyche both times. But Ayn Rand is naive to believe that simply studying and adopting a new philosophy will change the subconscious.” (08/27/26)
https://jollylibertarian.blogspot.com/2026/08/how-self-help-book-resolved_0973168350.html
- A Hostile Takeover?
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Mark Nayler“Following Britain’s vote to leave the EU, both easyJet and Ryanair were told by Brussels that they needed to relocate their headquarters and/or sell the majority of their shares to EU citizens in order to keep operating across the continent. easyJet solved the problem by opening a European office in Vienna, although its overall base of operations has remained in Luton, 30 miles north of London. New York-based Apollo has revealed few details about how it proposes to adhere to Europe’s airline ownership regulations, under which its stake is capped at 49.9%. Some aviation experts have noted that Apollo could satisfy Brussels by leaving majority voting rights with EU stakeholders, but still restructure or break up the airline to gain overall economic control.” (08/27/26)
- Pink Flame of Liberty, 08/29/26
Source: Pink Flame of Liberty
“Harpole v. Owens – Snow files for MOTION TO DISMISS.” (08/29/26)
- The Fifth Column, episode 572
Source: The Fifth Column
“Canada Calls Trump’s Bluff.” (08/28/26)
- Parallax Views w/ JG Michael, 08/28/26
Source: Parallax Views w/ JG Michael
“Did America Lose the Iran War? Robert Kagan’s Stunning Admission w/ Kyle Anzalone.” (08/28/26)
- Freakonomics Radio, episode 543
Source: Freakonomics
“How to Return Stolen Art (Update).” (08/28/26)
https://freakonomics.com/podcast/how-to-return-stolen-art-update/
- Fountainhead Forum, episode 480
Source: Fountainhead Forum
“Brian Chau on how non-profits give tax money to immigrants.” (08/28/26)
https://rumble.com/v7er6ug-ff-480-brian-chau-on-how-non-profits-give-tax-money-to-immigrants.html
- Freedom Works with Paul Molloy, 08/28/26
Source: Freedom Works
“Veronique de Rugy, Mercatus Center ‘Trade Wars Have No Winners.'” (08/28/26)
https://internetradiopros.com/freedomworks/?name=2026-08-29_zfw0081282026.mp3
- Underthrow Podcast, 08/27/26
Source: Underthrow
“Why Can’t You Switch Your Government?” (08/27/26)
https://underthrow.substack.com/p/why-cant-you-switch-your-government
- The Anarchist Experience, episode 595
Source: The Anarchist Experience
“Rich and Riley discuss the newly christened Lake America, slipping better pork into Big Beautiful Bills, and how long until the new thing is just the normal thing.” (08/27/26)
https://theanarchistexperience.wordpress.com/2026/08/28/the-anarchist-experience-595/
- Libertarian Angle, 08/27/26
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
“Jacob and Richard discuss FFF’s great new book, Liberty and the History of Economic Ideas, by Richard Ebeling.” (08/27/26)
- Nonzero, 08/27/26
Source: bloggingheads.tv
“The OpenAI Breakout and Other AI Spookiness | Robert Wright & Stephen Casper” (08/27/26)
- Serious Trouble, 08/27/26
Source: Serious Trouble
“If You Can’t Trust Michael Cohen, Who Can You Trust?” (08/27/26)
https://www.serioustrouble.show/p/if-you-cant-trust-michael-cohen-who
- Politics Politics Politics, 08/27/26
Source: Politics Politics Politics
“Trade War with Canada, Explained! (with Evan Scrimshaw).” (08/27/26)
https://www.politicspoliticspolitics.com/p/trade-war-with-canada-explained-with
- NPR Politics Podcast, 08/27/26
Source: National Public Radio [US state media]
“What’s going on with vote-by-mail?” (08/27/26)
https://www.npr.org/2026/08/27/nx-s1-5946378/whats-going-on-with-vote-by-mail
- Rising, 08/27/26
Source: The Hill
“Robby Soave gives his radar on Meta paying nearly $17 billion to settle a lawsuit on social media addiction.” (08/27/26)
- TAC Right Now, 08/27/26
Source: The American Conservative
“Andrew Day, Luke Nicastro, and Spencer Neale discuss the Trump administration’s new economic strategy to force Iran’s capitulation. Then, they talk about recent elections and whether the Democrats will sweep the midterms.” (08/27/26)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/tac-right-now-why-economic-d-day-probably-wont-work/
- Ron Paul Liberty Report, 08/27/26
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
“China Laughs At Bessent’s Oil Sanctions On Iran.” (08/27/26)
http://www.ronpaullibertyreport.com/archives/china-laughs-at-bessents-oil-sanctions-on-iran
- Show-Me Institute Podcast, 08/27/26
Source: Show-Me Institute
“Missouri’s School Personnel Boom with Avery Frank and Cory Koedel.” (08/27/26)
- Liberal Currents Live, 08/27/26
Source: Liberal Currents
“J. K. Rowling and the Problem of the Extremely Online Elites.” (08/27/26)
- Cato Podcast, 08/27/26
Source: Cato Institute
“How to Spot a Wrong Number.” (08/27/26)
https://www.cato.org/multimedia/cato-podcast/how-spot-wrong-number
- Capital Record, episode 318
Source: National Review
“David is joined by Stephanie Slade, author of the brand new book, Fusionism, and a prolific writer and public thinker around the fusion of liberty and virtue.” (08/27/26)
https://www.nationalreview.com/podcasts/capital-record/fusionism/